Tag: Ireland

Cricket: England v Ireland Preview – One Off ODI

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England’s young brigade get the opportunity to atone for their incompetent seniors when the national cricket team meet Ireland at Malahide tomorrow.  While the heavily criticised stars who failed to beat West Indies in the recently concluded test series travel home, a wildly different looking side get the chance to dampen the choruses for coach Peter Moores’ head and press their own claims.

Ireland on the other hand will be ecstatic at the chance to worsen England’s already dark mood.  They’ll look to their 2011 World Cup upset over England as motivation for a shock win.

The Last Time These Two Met

Associate nations and test playing nations meet rarely.  The last time these two sides met was in 2013 where England won by 6 wickets.  The two matches prior to that were much closer however.  A narrow England win in August 2011 was preceded by the famous Ireland win in the 2011 Cricket World Cup.

Form against one another and generally is well out the window in predicting the outcome of this one.  The plethora of red ball cricket means both teams will be underdone, and the difficulty in predicting how the English debutants get on is obvious.

The Teams

England (likely): 1 Alex Hales, 2 Jason Roy, 3 James Vince, 4 James Taylor (capt), 5 Sam Billings, 6 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 7 David Willey, 8 Adil Rashid, 9 Tim Bresnan, 10 Steven Finn, 11 Mark Wood.

James Taylor leads England for the first time and takes charge of a team with too many (5) debutants to feature here.  Zafar Ansari and Lewis Gregory are the other options in the 13.

Ireland (likely): 1 William Porterfield (capt), 2 Paul Stirling, 3 Ed Joyce, 4 Niall O’Brien, 5 Andy Balbirnie, 6 Gary Wilson (wk), 7 Kevin O’Brien, 8 John Mooney, 9 George Dockrell, 10 Alex Cusack, 11 Craig Young/Stuart Thompson

Ireland have lost Tim Murtagh from their World Cup XI in one of the few changes expected from the tournament earlier in the year.

The Key Players

Adil Rashid – He should’ve played in the final test in the West Indies.  He is far more of a frontline spinner than Moeen Ali is and thoroughly deserves his chance to replace James Tredwell as England’s premiere limited overs and test spinner.  Hopefully the lack of cricket he’s played over the past few months isn’t reflected in his bowing.

William P0rterfield – The Irish captain was their best performing batsman at the World Cup.  In 6 matches he scored 275 runs at an average of 45.83 with a hundred and a fifty.  He’s also getting some hand 30/40 starts in his first class matches for Warwickshire in the always difficult early season conditions.

The Match Odds*

England – $1.35

Ireland – $3.21

*Courtesy of Sportsbet Australia.

The Prediction

England’s young troops should have too much talent for Ireland’s ageing troops.  We’re giving this one to England by 4 wickets or 50 runs.

The Best Bets

Sam Billings is a talented keeper batsman but makes this team as a specialist batsman.  He’s listed to come in at 5 which could be perfect if their’s early movement around.  Get on him to top score at $9.50.

For gimmicks sake try the Direction of First Boundary bet.  The leg side is paying a decent $2.00.  Surely one of the game’s openers has a pull shot or leg glance in them.

Cricket World Cup Day 29 Recap

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The Cricket World Cup has officially reached knockout stages after the Pool games wrapped up yesterday.  The West Indies and Ireland sealed the final two quarterfinal spots in Pool B with effortless wins against UAE and Ireland respectively.

The quarterfinals are now confirmed as:

Sri Lanka v South Africa

India v Bangladesh

Australia v Pakistan

New Zealand v West Indies

Here’s how yesterday’s games panned out.

Day 29 Results

1. West Indies v UAE

The West Indies put their indifferent form and the threat of Cyclone Pam behind them to comfortably seal their place in the Cricket World Cup quarterfinals with a win over the UAE in Napier.

Needing to progress their net run rate and beat impending rain, the West Indies did everything right after winning the toss and dismissing the UAE quickly.  It could well have been even quicker after the associates were 6/46; Jason Holder doing most of the damage.

There was a slight recovery.  Amjad Javed and Nasir Aziz were the architects; the pair adding 107 for the 7th wicket and extending the match for the brave souls that did turn out to a rather grey McLean Park.  Aziz’s innings was particularly surprising given his highest first class score is just 4.  Both Aziz and Javed notched fifties, delaying the inevitable, and causing the West Indies to nervously glance skywards as the partnership progressed.

The West Indies easily reach the mediocre target.  They needed to chase it within 33 overs to ensure a playoff position (barring a tie on the later Adelaide game), and managed to do with 3 overs to spare.  The relatively unused extended squad members, Johnson Charles and Jonathan Carter, did the bulk of the scoring.  Charles looked frenetic, Carter composed as their fifties atoned for Chris Gayle’s absence.

The West Indies set a date with New Zealand in Wellington where they’ll believe anything can happen.

West Indies 176 for 4 (Charles 55, Carter 50*) beat UAE 175 (Aziz 60, Javed 56, Holder 4-27) by six wickets

2. Pakistan v Ireland

Ireland’s fairytale run in the Cricket World Cup came to an abrupt end when they were well-beaten by Pakistan in the final Pool game of the tournament.

After witnessing the West Indies dispatch the UAE, Ireland needed at least a tie to make it through to a knockout match but failed to summon the batting performance necessary to test a vulnerable Pakistan batting unit.  William Porterfield (107) fought bravely, but lacked support in a total that appeared to be 50 short of a competitive score based on the surface, and 80 short based on the Irish bowling attack.  What Riaz the best bowler with three wickets, with the other 7 shared amongst Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali, and others.

In reply, Pakistan never threatened to let nerves get the better of them.  They chased the total with remarkable ease to set up a quarterfinal against tournament favourites Australia.  Sarfraz was the star of the show.  He made a mature hundred to anchor the chase, after the bulk of the total was knocked off by him and Ahmed Shehzad (63).  Sarfraz has made an excellent contribution in the two games he has featured in, with both bat and gloves.  6 dismissals and 150 runs is an excellent return from two games, and he has likely secured a place in the starting team for the Australian match also in Adelaide.

Pakistan 241 for 3 (Sarfraz 101*, Shehzad 63) beat Ireland 237 (Porterfield 107, Wahab 3-54) by seven wickets

 

Cricket World Cup: Day 28 Recap and Day 29 Preview

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Day 28 Results

1. India v Zimbabwe

Brendon Taylor’s final game for Zimbabwe almost followed the script.  The final innings hundred was there – an incredible collection of reverse sweeps, powerful lofts, and cheeky ramps – and at 93/4 the victory looked a possibility too.  Unfortunately, India’s powerful middle order covered over the top order cracks and completed victory by 6 wickets and 8 balls remaining.  The crux of the chase was an unbeaten 196 run partnership between Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni.  The pair rescuing a dire situation for the unbeaten Indian side, after the top order had collapsed to 93/4.

Earlier, Taylor had thrilled a large Auckland crowd with a final international innings of the highest quality. He scored 138, including 70 from his final 29 balls.  He was supported by Sean Williams in the most significant partnership of the innings, before Sikandar Raza added a quickfire 28 just as the momentum threatened to collapse.

Eden Park is always a difficult ground to defend totals on, and it proved too tricky for the Zimbabwe bowlers as Raina and Dhoni maturely saw India to their sixth World Cup win.

India 288 for 4 (Raina 110, Dhoni 85) beat Zimbabwe 287 (Taylor 138, Williams 50, Yadav 3-43, Mohit 3-48, Shami 3-48) by 6 wickets

 

2. Australia v Scotland

Australia comfortably beat Scotland and the rain to wrap up second spot in Pool A.

Opting to bowl first to beat the rain, Australia quickly gained the ascendancy with quick wickets to all of the bowlers.  In fairness, the Scottish batsman, who have struggled all tournament, contributed to their own demise with a host of rash shots and an unusually aggressive mindset.  In all, Scotland made just 130, with a brief break in the play for weather not able to save them from somewhat of a humiliation.

Mitchell Starc took 4 wickets to leap to the top of the wickettaker charts, Cummins had three, and Watson, Johnson and Maxwell all got in on the action.

Australia then used the chase to give Michael Clarke an extended bat.  He opened and made 47, and Finch, Watson, Faulkner and Warner all pitched in with handy efforts at better than a run a ball.  The win sets up a quarterfinal against the winner of todays Ireland v Pakistan match.

Australia 133 for 3 (Clarke 47) beat Scotland 130 (Machan 40, Starc 4-14, Cummins 3-42) by seven wickets

 

Day 29 Matches

1. West Indies v UAE, McLean Park (Napier – cloudy, windy, chance of rain), starts 11:00am local time

West Indies – $1.04

UAE – $11.00

West Indies must beat the UAE today and then await the result of the Pakistan / Ireland game from Adelaide.  Task number one will be tricky given the cyclone from Vanuatu threatening to bring adverse conditions to the East Coast of New Zealand.  It might also be tough if Chris Gayle is passed unfit to compete; his back still a big worry.

The final chance for UAE to register a win comes at the familiar location of Napier where they have based themselves for much of the tournament.  They’re coming off a relatively poor showing against South Africa, so they’ll need to improve if they are to crash the West Indies party.

2. Pakistan v Ireland, Adelaide Oval (Adelaide – partly cloudy), starts 2:00pm local time

Pakistan – $1.27

Ireland – $3.82

Ireland’s most important Cricket World Cup game in history will settle a tense Pool B.  Ireland need a win to make it through to the knockout stages for the first time (they have previously made the Super 8’s in 2007).  They could also hope for an abandoned game in Napier, but they would much prefer to be the masters of their own destiny.

Irelands’s poor net run rate is their major issue heading into the final match.  They’ve done commendably to beat UAE, West Indies and Zimbabwe but need to muster every ounce of skill and self-belief to do the unthinkable.

 

Day 29 Multi

The “Gayle Force Upset” Multi

Chris Gayle loves McLean Park, a test 197* springs to mind as evidence of his love of the small ground, but he’s also doubtful with a bad back.  If he plays we’re backing him to perform amongst the cyclone.

Gale To Top Score at $2.88 + Ireland winning Head-to-Head at $3.82 = $11.00

Odds courtesy of Sportsbet Australia.

Cricket World Cup: Day 24 Recap

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India won the battle of the ‘I’ nations with a one-sided victory over Ireland in Hamilton on day 24 of the Cricket World Cup.  India’s ninth win in a row made possible because of a fine opening partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma.  See more on the action below:

Day 24 Results

India v Ireland

Ireland made it nine World Cup wins on the bounce with a comfortable eight wicket win over Ireland.

The defending World Cup champions made light work of Ireland’s 259, requiring just four of their batsman to pad up and 36.5 overs to get there.  Ireland’s 259 always looked 50 short on a pristine Hamilton surface, and that proved to be the case when Dhawan and Rohit combined to knock off 174 of them in the opening stand.  The win means India top Pool B, and keep their incredible run of victories from the 2011 tournament going.

Ireland had earlier started the day in exceptionally positive fashion.  Openers, William Portefield (67) and Paul Stirling (42) set Ireland on their way to a big total by adding 89 for the first wicket and seeing off India’s surprisingly effective seam bowlers.  However, the introduction of spin through Ashwin, Raina, and Jadeja slowed the European Champions momentum and cause more than a few rash strokes.  The wickets tended to arrive in clumps, and despite the best efforts of Niall O’Brien (75), the regular wickets meant Ireland fell well short of the 300 they were on track for earlier.  In fact, it took a giggly last wicket partnership to get to 259.

India will be grateful they could sneak in a full 10 overs from Raina – that shouldn’t happen in international cricket, but it did, and he took a bonus 1-40.

India’s run chase was a canter. Dhawan’s second hundred of the tournament flung him to second on the run scoring charts, and further outlined just how dangerous the Indian team are from 1-11.  He was dropped twice and the punishment went on to become a record opening stand for India at World Cups.  Rohit Sharma also made light work of the chase with a quick 64, before Kohli and Rahane finished off the win in style.  The Irish bowlers have always been the weak link in the side, and unfortunately they were too unthreatening on a docile Seddon Park pitch.

One more game each, India against Zimbabwe; Ireland a crunch potential qualifier against Pakistan.

India 260 for 2 (Dhawan 100, Rohit 64) beat Ireland 259 (N O’Brien 75, Porterfield 67, Shami 3-41) by 8 wickets

Cricket World Cup: Day 24 Preview

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Just when the World Cup was starting to follow script England go ahead and put in their worst performance of the tournament to gift the writer ammunition for today’s important World Cup questions.  We’ll also review today’s game featuring Ireland and India.

The Three Big Questions

Why were England so bad?

Where do we start.  We didn’t agree with their team selection for much of the Cricket World Cup, we don’t like their mindset, and their best two bowlers had bad tournaments.  Then there’s the focus on ‘data’ and the domestic competition featuring 18 counties which is simply too big.  Looking at the points individually, the team selection and game plan were the glaring errors.  England’s cautious approach is in stark contrast to the way the tournament frontrunners are playing.  Watch McCullum, de Villiers or Maxwell bat.  No one goes close to playing with that sort of freedom in the English set up (Ali and Buttler are the two closest), therefore they are always going to be behind the 8-ball in modern cricket.  You saw the ease their 309 was chased down by Sri Lanka.  Those scores don’t win games anymore.  They needed to give Hales more cricket, get him at the top and get Buttler up the order too.  It also would have helped if Stuart Broad didn’t go 35 overs without a wicket in the middle of the Cricket World Cup.

Where do they go now?

Moores and Morgan both have to go.  Moore showed just how dreadfully out of touch he is when he claimed he would “analyse the data” to determine where they went wrong.  And Morgan just can’t hold his place in the team as a batsman, so has to go.  Downton should probably join them on the heap; possibly James Whitaker (chairman of selectors) too.

They could turn to players like James Vince, Jason Roy and Ben Stokes are good enough to build a squad around.  Not KP though.

Any more upsets?

Still could be plenty, including today’s match previewed below. The quarterfinals are also the perfect chance for Pakistan, Bangladesh, West Indies, Sri Lanka or Ireland (depending on who gets there) to provide a shock.  If you love a cheeky outsider punt this could be your tournament.

Today’s Matchup

India v Ireland, Seddon Park (Hamilton – fine), starts 2:00pm local time.

India – $1.20

Ireland – $4.00

The stunning Seddon Park hosts unbeaten India against surprise packages Ireland in today’s only game.

Both sides are arguably stronger with the willow than with the leather, so today’s match could be a high scorer.  Having said that, India have surprised some with the improvement in their bowling since their time in Australia, and no teams have got away on them.

Ireland have had just one bad performance form their lot so far.  They should still be feeling pretty good about themselves and will take comfort from the fact that England’s exit makes them European Champions.

We’re sniffing an upset…

Today’s Bet

The upsets continue bet.  Ireland haven’t beaten India in a one-day international before but back them to do it today on a head to head bet at $4.00.

Odds taken from Unibet Australia.

Cricket World Cup: Day 21 Recap

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Saturday’s cricketing action saw Betcirca come good on a number of bets.  We successfully predicted runs for Brendon Taylor and Seam Williams despite Zimbabwe falling a few runs short against Ireland.  In the other match, Pakistan caused a major shock by beating World Cup frontrunners South Africa.

Day 21 Results

1. Pakistan v South Africa

Pakistan’s bowlers delivered an unexpected win in their rain shortened World Cup match against South Africa overnight.  The win sees Pakistan move to third in Pool B and level with South Africa and Ireland on 6 points.

It came courtesy of their bowlers.  Seamers, Rahat Ali; Wahab Riaz; and Mohammed Irfan all took three wickets each in an excellent display of disciplined yet aggressive short pitched bowling.  South Africa’s batsman were reckless with their wickets, and gifted nine catches out of the ten wickets to fall.

Batting first, Pakistan made it to 222, largely thanks to another half century by Misbah ul-Haq (56) and a mature first World Cup knock form reinstated keeper Sarfraz Ahmed (49).  Useful contributions also came from Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi in difficult conditions of wind and rain.  The total was unusually small for Eden Park but was more than Australia almost managed to defend against New Zealand a week earlier.

It proved to be enough.  South Africa imploding to be all out for 202.  A spate of rash strokes gave them little chance of handling the total.  No one taking the requisite responsibility to see them through to their total or providing AB de Villers with support.

AB de Villiers commented after the match that “he had nothing good to say about his team”, but he probably had a few kind words for himself.  He was the South African side’s only hope as he smashed his way to 77 off 58 balls – in the process enjoying the small square boundaries at Eden Park.

Certainly a boil-over, one that was terrific for Pool B.  But not one that will affect the semi-finalists in our view.

Pakistan 222 (Misbah 56, Steyn 3-30) beat South Africa 202 (de Villiers 77, Rahat 3-40, Wahab 3-45, Irfan 3-52) by 29 runs (D/L method)

2. Zimbabwe v Ireland

The second Pool B match of the day featured too similar sides.  Ireland and Zimbabwe are not within the top echelon of world cricket teams, but they have both handled themselves nicely in this World Cup.  Competitive in most of their matches, just lacking a little bit of death bowling nous or luck to stop the huge totals against them.

Today’s game again featured huge totals.  Ireland made 331 for 8 form their allotment.  Ed Joyce and Andre Balbirnie were the mainstays of the innings – Joyce getting to a hundred, and Balbirnie narrowly missing out.

In response Zimbabwe looked on course for much of the game led by World Cup standouts Brendon Taylor and Sean Williams.  Taylor had 121 from just 91 balls before he tried one lofted shot too many.  However, with Sean Williams still going along nicely, Zimbabwe were a firm chance.  If Sean Williams had batted the 50 overs they might have got home.  Unfortunately, he was given out on 96, caught on the boundary by John Mooney in a moment of YouTube notoriety.  The controversy surrounded whether Mooney had touched the boundary rope when completing the catch.  Replays suggested some portion may have been touching the rope, but there was an additional complication from the shadow of the boot.

Who really knows?  And at the end of the day the newspapers reported a 5 run win to Ireland.

Ireland 331 for 8 (Joyce 112, Balbirnie 97, Chatara 3-61) beat Zimbabwe 326 (Taylor 121, Williams 96, Cusack 4-32) by five runs